The Flower and The Monster
by Ryan Roach
Summary: The young prodigy who never wanted the attention. A soldier wielding his dead father's weapons. Watch as the brothers in arms go through their time at the infamous Beacon Academy. Collaboration between Ventusblade and myself
1. Nice to meet you, I'm a Grimm

**This is a collaboration from the very handsome writers known as Ventusblade and Ryan Roach! Hope you guys enjoy Read, rate and review!**

(Brendan's POV)

I nearly missed the dust plane to Beacon but showed up at the doors just as they were about to close. I sat down to catch my breath. I should introduce myself.

My name is Brendan Grimm, I know the name is ironic but what can you do? I was wearing my usual dark red hoodie with a black t-shirt underneath with some dark blue jeans and black shoes. I had a machete strapped to my waist. It belonged to my deceased father. Made out of Tungsten with a rose wood handle that had my dead dad's name on it, Charles, it's my prized possession. My long light brown hair sat just barely over my right eye and had a wild look to it. The dog tags around my neck jingled as I stood up and looked around myself.

Sitting right next to me was my little brother Garnet, who had arrived a couple hours earlier than me. He was wearing a blood red t-shirt, a black hoodie with a symbol that looks like a wilted rose, a pair of black shorts with red cuffs that end slightly below his knees, an unassuming grey belt, and a pair of red and black skate shoes. Strapped to his side were his twin katanas, one with a red blade and the other with a yellow one. He was sleeping with his hood up so I couldn't get a good look at his face. Just then my friend Zora walked up at and started to get a little worked up.

"Where were you Brendan? You nearly missed the plane and your Mom couldn't find you this morning to wake you up. I had to leave without you!"

She had brown hair that went down to about mid back with a blonde streak in her hair that came naturally from her mom's side of the family. She was wearing a white shirt and jeans with her spear, also made of tungsten, strapped to her back. She had electric blue eyes that started right into me.

"Calm down! I was spending my last night over at Austin's house! It was going to be the last time for four years I could see him and Sydnee and they've been my friends since the beginning!" I say petting her head and pulling out my Ipod.

"Brendan, you being 18 makes Carolina worry even more than she already does, you need to tell her next time!"

"Aw, so you do care. My mom knows nothing can hurt me, just look at me! A muscular 189 pounds standing at 6 feet. Doesn't Garnet remind you of a little cat when he sleeps?" I asked randomly. "Besides either way none of the girls in this district are anywhere near what I look for in a girl." I sat down next to Garnet and pulled down his hood making him move a little in his sleep. His black hair had natural red highlights in it that made his grey eyes really pop. I put an ear bud in and played my favorite song, "The monster" by Eminem. I let Garnet sleep until we were about to touch down at the new school. Beacon academy, the absolute best fighting school for the future hunter or huntress.

My dad had been killed by Beowulfs when I was really little, but it still hurt like a open scar. Garnet had been too young to remember him, but everyday I try and live up to the name he made for himself in the marines. He had been one of the best there was out of his whole regiment, he killed an entire pack of Beowulfs for a warm up!

The plane was starting to descend so I woke up Garnet. I shook his shoulder and he stood up with a shoe in his hand looking like he was going to throw it before I grabbed it from his hand.

"Who took my shoe?" Garnet asked, turning around. He stood about 3 inches shorter than me and had just turned 16.

"We're about to land," I informed my little brother. What should I do first to mess with this place? Intercom, yeah definitely the intercom. I turned back to my friend. "Zora, you never congratulated Garnet for getting to here 2 years earlier than he was supposed to!" I said kind of elbowing her and gesturing to him.

"That's because he reminds me of your mom, and she used to take your dad down in 3 seconds! I had no doubt that Garnet would get in to Beacon early."

"That hurts Zor it really does…look at this place! It's a castle not a school!" I said bouncing up and down on my heels. When my dad died I developed hyper-active fight or flight disorder which basically means that if anything surprises me I get a shot of adrenaline straight into my heart. "So Garnet, should I play the big brother role all year or should I go into best friend mode?"

"Try and stick to friend mode, you are always so embarrassing when you go all big brother on me." He looked out the window and his jaw dropped to the ground instantly. "That's a school?"

"Sure is, only question is how they're gonna pair up teams for the time we're here. I heard some red head guy say we have to go into the forest of Forever Fall! This is going to be so cool!" We stepped off of the plane and Garnet took off faster than I could see. I was left standing alone with Zora. That little punk is going to get it. For some reason he thought that Zora and I were dating when in all honesty I only liked her as a friend. So, for no reason he would run off and give us "alone time."

"Where do we have to go on this place to find out where we stay for tonight?" Zora asked looking at the map they had sitting by the sky dock.

"We're supposed to head over to the auditorium so the guy who runs this whole place can give us some speech."

"You mean Ozpin I assume?" She said, looking at me with a raised eyebrow.

"Why do you always have to be so smart?" I returned the look, making her laugh a little. We started to walk over to the auditorium.

The court yard had a bunch of limestone slabs laying down around a marble fountain that had a giant floating blue crystal above, benches were scattered around the whole place and trees ringed on the outside it. The school itself was standing at about 60 stories tall with 2 towers on either side, I assumed it was for to separate the separate year groups, 1st and 2nd in one tower with 3rd and 4th in the other.

We finally reached the auditorium. A huge group of kids had gathered around a stage where off to the side stood a man in a green suit and a woman who looked as cold as marble. I guessed the guy in green was Ozpin. He was wearing a green suit with a scarf and glasses sitting low on his face. A coffee mug and cane were in one hand, and the other sat in a pocket. He had silver hair that gave him a stressed look. His face was emotionless but his eyes were scanning the crowd to see of he should waste his time on any of us.

He walked up to the microphone and began to speak.

"I'll…keep this brief. You have traveled here today in search of knowledge-to hone your craft and acquire new skills-when you finish you plan to dedicate you life to the protection of people. But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose-direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will only prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step." He sipped his coffee and walked off the stage looking as emotionless as a bag of rocks.

"Well he's a bag of rainbows and unicorns ain't he Zora?" I leaned over nudging her in the side. "Come back here! You can't leave a guy as handsome as me running around or I'll be dating every girl in this school like that guy Wayne back at Signal!" I ran and caught up to her and she punched me in the arm lightly.

"You cheeky bastard, I swear. If it isn't one thing it's something else isn't it?" she wrapped her arm around mine and we walked over to the ball room so we could get our stuff set down before anyone else got the good spots.

**What's up wild people? This is a new collab with a very good friend of mine named Ventusblade. We'll be switching out who writes which chapter for every other so the next chapter you read'll be by him. Give us some feedback in reviews and favorites and all that good stuff. SEE YA!**


	2. Welcome to the Jungle

AN: Hello everyone, Ventusblade here with the second chapter of The Flower and The Monster. Sorry that this took so long, this chapter just refused to be written easily. I really wanted this one chapter to be worth the wait, so I put my blood, tears, sweat, and two deleted attempts into this. Enjoy!

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><p>(Garnet POV, Shortly after leaving the dust plane)<p>

Beacon was like nothing I could have imagined. It wasn't a school, but a castle floating in the sky. My brother and Zora continued to talk about something, but I wasn't really paying attention to them, instead I was studying the campus in front of us. It's not like they were saying anything important. Whenever Zora and Brendan are together all they do is flirt. It's unbelievable how incredibly thick they both are.

The doors of the dust plane began to open, offering me a chance to escape from the lovely "not a couple". I grinned with the anticipation of getting out of the cramped plane. I reached down, grabbing my few personal items consisting of my swords, my grey backpack, and my beloved skateboard. Finally, the doors were wide open and I bolted, mixing in with the crowd of students.

Man this place is massive, I thought, surveying the open area in front of what looked like Beacon's main building. Groups of students were huddled together, dominating the large outdoor common area. I had no desire to just stand around and wait for something to happen, so I decided to take a look around the campus.

After about ten minutes, I had a pretty good feel for the exterior of Beacon. So far I had found the dorms, the dining hall, a large area with near a cliff behind the school, and multiple scenic park like common areas. The only problem was that now I was completely lost. I was pretty sure I had passed the same fountain three times.

"The name's Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls of the tongue. The ladies love it!" I heard an energetic voice proclaim. I looked around for the source of the voice. Maybe that person could tell me how to get to orientation.

The source of the voice was a blonde haired boy wearing a black hoodie with an orange hood, a white breastplate and shoulder guards, brown fingerless gloves, two belts in an X shape, and a normal pair of blue jeans. On one of his belts was what looked like an average sheathed sword.

Standing next to the blonde haired boy was a somewhat short and young looking girl. She wore a black top, a mainly black skirt with red trim, a belt with what looked like ammo clips and a silver rose insignia attached to the front, black stockings and boots that came up almost to her knees, and a red hooded cloak. Her hair was jet black with red highlights, like mine. Her resemblance to me was uncanny. She even had the same grey eyes.

"Hi, I'm Garnet," I said walking up to the two strangers. "Any idea how to get to orientation?"

"Not really, I was just following Ruby. I'm Jaune, by the way." Jaune offered me his hand, which I shook before turning to the girl, who I now knew as Ruby.

Ruby gave Jaune an exasperated look before returning her attention to me. "I think I can figure out how to get there, no thanks to Vomit Boy over there."

I snorted upon hearing Jaune's nickname. "Seriously? Vomit Boy? What's your superpower, projectile vomiting? Grossing out everyone with a half mile radius?" Ok, maybe I was being a bit rough on a guy I'd just met, but I mean c'mon! I couldn't just let something as perfect as "Vomit Boy" go to waste.

"Hey, I'll let you know that motion sickness is pretty common," Jaune huffed as he searched for some type of retaliation. "Well, why do you have two swords? Are you trying to compensate?" I raised an eyebrow, accepting Jaune's challenge.

I flipped my hair, trying to act as full of myself as humanly possible as I put my hands on my hips and looked off into the distance. "Just trying to distract from my dashingly good looks. If they went unchecked, the world could collapse from my sheer awesomeness." I snuck a peak at Jaune and Ruby. The looks on their faces made my performance well worth it. Ruby was failing to suppress a grin, while Jaune merely shook his head in disbelief.

"Has anyone ever told you that you're insane?" Jaune asked as he made to elbow me in the side. I quickly sidestepped, ending up right beside Ruby.

"You should try it. You might like it." I winked at Ruby, who pushed me away with a slight blush on her face.

"Anyway," Ruby began, trying to move the conversation forward. "It's nice to meet you." I noticed that Ruby was sneaking glances at the weapons on my belt.

"You're dying to know what they are, aren't you?" Ruby jumped at my question, trying to hide her embarrassment. "Well, I might as well indulge you and drop some knowledge." Jaune snorted, but I chose to ignore him. "These," I gestured to the sheathed swords, "are my pride and joy, Red Raven and GaleForce. They're a pair of steel katanas that are infused with dust. Red Raven is infused with red dust giving it fire attributes, like shooting small fires. GaleForce is infused with yellow dust, allowing it to shoot small bursts of electricity."

"Definitely compensating," Jaune declared with a nod of his head. I shrugged.

"Right back at you, Vomit Boy. Anyway, what do you guys have?" Ruby reached back and pulled a black box off her belt, mecha-shifting it into a massive red and black scythe in one fluid motion.

"Whoa! Is that a scythe?" Jaune asked, taking a few steps away from the massive blade.

"This is Crescent Rose," Ruby informed us, stroking the weapon affectionately. "It's also a customizable, high impact sniper rifle."

"So, it's also a gun," I said, simplifying Ruby's statement for Jaune, who had a slightly confused expression.

"It's also a gun," Ruby confirmed, cocking the massive sniper-scythe. As Ruby put away her giant scythe, we reached the lecture hall where orientation was being held. In the front of the room was a nearly empty stage with a microphone positioned at its center. The room was crowded with students from wall to wall. It seemed like we were the last ones there.

Ruby was scanning the room, probably looking for someone she knew. A, let us say, well endowed older girl with long blonde hair waved to Ruby, motioning for her to go over to her. The blonde wore an orange scarf around her neck, a brown low-cut coat that showed her midriff, a yellow undershirt with a flame insignia, black shorts along with a belt with multiple pouches attached to it, brown knee-high boots with orange socks, and a blue bandana tied above her left boot.

"See you guys later. Don't kill each other!" Ruby commanded as she made her exit, leaving Jaune and I on our own.

"So," I began, awkwardly breaking the silence between Jaune and I. "Which one is your type?"

Jaune looked as if I had woken him from a daydream. "What?"

"Nothing." I quickly ended the failed conversation as a man in a dark green three-piece suit and a lighter green shirt took the stage. The man's only notable characteristics were his metallic bronze eyes, silver hair, and a cane and coffee mug that were gripped firmly in one hand.

The man, who I assumed was ProfessorOzpin, slowly walked up to the microphone, surveying the students spread out before him. "I'll…keep this brief. You have traveled here today in search of knowledge—to hone your craft and acquire new skills—and when you have finished you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose—direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this, but you time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step." On that note, Ozpin ended his speech and exited the stage.

Beacon's second in command, ProfessorGoodwitch, took the stage next. "You will gather in the ballroom tonight. Tomorrow your initiation begins. Be ready."

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><p>I rushed into the ballroom, and made a beeline for one of the room's corners. I quickly slung my backpack off my shoulders, claiming the top right corner of the ballroom as my own as I put down my backpack and set up my sleeping bag. I wonder where Brendan and Zora went, I questioned silently as I grabbed a pair of pajamas with graphics or wilted roses, and made my way to the changing rooms. Oh well, not my problem.<p>

I returned to my corner to find my brother setting up camp right beside me. "Look who decided to show up," I joked, putting Brendan in a headlock. "Done playing house with Zora?" I felt my older sibling's ears getting warm and smiled, satisfied with the fruits of my labor.

"I'm going into big brother mode," Brendan warned, grabbing my arm and flipping me so I landed hard on my back, winding me upon impact. "One, you're the one who ran off, dear brother. And two, for the thousandth time there is nothing going on between Zora and me." Brendan had his foot on my chest, pinning me to the ground so he could force me to listen. I really have to stop doing this to myself. "Comprende?"

"Yup, clear as crystal," I wheezed. "Hey big bro, I think you're going to snap a rib." Brendan quickly removed his foot from my chest, scratching the back of his head sheepishly, as my lungs sucked in air hungrily. "Thanks. So what were you up to before the speech?"

"You know, this and that…" Brendan waved off my question, letting me know that he had been setting up pranks of one kind or another. "On an unrelated note, don't use the main entrance tomorrow." Brendan grinned evilly, as I tucked that piece of information away in my brain.

Out of nowhere, something black flew through the air and smashed me in the face. I stumbled back a few paces, tripping over my bag and banging my head into the wall behind me. I sunk to the ground, holding my head in pain.

"Damn that hurt," I moaned, rubbing my sore head. I reached over and picked up the item that had hit me, a pillow shaped like a beowolf. I stared at the object, perplexed by how such a small object could cause so much pain.

"I'm so sorry!" I looked up to see Ruby rushing toward me, the blonde from before following close behind. "I was trying to hit my sister, but she ducked." Ruby offered me a hand, which I graciously accepted, ignoring Brendan's smug look. "Yang, you apologize as well!" Ruby scolded the older girl.

Yang patted me on the back as I got back to my feet. "Sorry that my little sister can't aim." Ruby glared at the older girl. "But seriously, are you alright?"

"He's fine," Brendan interrupted. "Almost as fine as you," Brendan joked with a wink. Yang responded with a quiet, suggestive growl. What the hell am I watching?

"For the record, that was awful," I informed the two older siblings. I considered the possible ways to escape from the situation, and finally decided on the most entertaining option. "C'mon Brendan, I thought you'd at least know how to flirt with a girl," I taunted. "Hey Ruby, let's show them how to do this the right way." Without waiting for a response, I grabbed Ruby's hand and lead her away from our older siblings who were continuing their own conversation.

I nimbly maneuvered around the crowded room as I lead Ruby to a mostly empty area. I couldn't figure out why the raven-haired girl was avoiding my gaze until she finally spoke up.

"You can let go of my hand now," Ruby said, her face as red as the highlights in her hair. How had I completely forgotten that I'd been holding her hand this entire time?

"Sorry," I quickly apologized, releasing the girl's hand as an awkward silence took over. "So why do you want to become a huntress?" Ruby's eyes lit up and I knew the conversation had been salvaged.

"I want everyone to live happily ever after, like in the stories," Ruby replied with childlike innocence. "What about you? Do you want to be a hunter to protect everyone important to you?" I tried to smile, but failed.

"Well, I've sort of failed at that already, so no." Ruby gave me a confused look, but I trudged forward with my explanation. "A pack of beowolves killed my dad when I was four. My brother thinks that I don't remember it very well, but I remember everything; how scared and confused I felt, my brother isolating himself, even my mom crying herself to sleep when she thought we couldn't hear her." I took a deep breath to calm myself. "Basically, I just want those responsible to pay, especially the creatures of Grimm." I looked up at Ruby, expecting her to be disgusted at my selfish reason for becoming a hunter. Instead she grabbed my hand again, trying to comfort me. No words needed to be said. "Thanks Ruby." The smaller girl smiled. "I'm really tired, so I'm going to hit the sack."

"Ok. Sleep well." I turned to leave, but felt Ruby tap my shoulder. "Thanks for telling me about your dad." I gave Ruby a somewhat forced smile before returning to my sleeping bag, ignoring Yang and Brendan who were still talking.

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><p>"Garnet! Garnet, wake up!" A voice commanded in a hushed tone while violently shaking my shoulder. My body acted on its own, grabbing the nearest weapon and thrusting it in the direction of the voice. My heart was beating quickly and my breathing was harsh and ragged as my eyes slowly adjusted to the dark room. Kneeling in front of me was Brendan, wearing an expression that is unique to worried older brothers. He gently pulled my makeshift weapon, my skateboard, out of my shaking hands.<p>

"You were thrashing around and talking in your sleep," Brendan explain while examining me, fully in what we like to call "big brother mode". "Wanna talk about it?" I took a deep breath and tried to stop my hands from shaking. I could only vaguely remember my dream, but even that little bit scared me.

"I was talking about dad last night. I guess it just carried over into a dream," I said in between breaths. I didn't want to tell Brendan, but the dream had been about the moment dad had died. He had been surrounded by a pack of beowolves and attacked brutally, being clawed to ribbons by the black monsters. Even in my dreams, I couldn't save my father.

Brendan put an arm around me, trying to get me to relax. "Dad died a hero, just remember that. Try to go back to sleep."

I shook my head. "I'm going out to get some air." I snatched my twin katanas and sprinted out of the ballroom, not even bothering to change out of my pajamas.

Once outside, I ran in the direction of the nearest open area, the cliff that I had found earlier. What the hell am I doing? I pulled out my swords and got into a low stance. I sprang forward at the nearest object, a tree, and spun my blades in intricate arcs. Brendan's training advice began playing in my head. "Move your feet. A stationary target is a dead target."

I started moving variantly, springing forward and backward to increase or halt my speed, jumping and dodging, and avoiding invisible enemies. I never stayed in the same pattern. "If your enemy can predict your movements, they can use them against you." I finally ended my impromptu training with my favorite technique.

I rushed forward at a random tree, as if to attack it head on. I imagined the tree as a beowolf, with one of the low hanging branches as its arm. I flung Red Raven at the "beowolf" and continued charging. Right before I slammed into the branch I rolled, ending up behind the tree. I surrounded GaleForce with petals from my semblance and slashed at the tree's back, effortlessly cutting almost halfway through the tree.

"Wow, you really showed that tree who's boss!" A bubbly voice burst from behind me. I jumped, spinning around to see a girl with orange hair, a joyful expression, and the blue, sparkling eyes of someone who just drank a bit too much coffee. She was wearing a white shirt with a small heart shaped cut out on the chest with high-collared torso armor and a pink skirt. I just stared at the energetic girl, unsure of what to say. "Oh, sorry. I'm Nora."

"Um, hi. I'm Garnet." I was still a little unsure of how to act. I had just been fighting a tree after all.

"Man, you're almost as bad a Ren," the older girl chuckled in amusement. "C'mon, I'll take you to meet him. You two'll get along great!" Before I could protest, Nora grasped my wrist and began dragging me toward the dining hall.

I ended up sitting at a table for breakfast with Nora and the boy she had told me about. I awkwardly munched on some pancakes while Ren halfheartedly scolded Nora. Ren was taller than me with jet black hair bound in a long ponytail that reached down his back with a single stripe of bright pink on part of his bangs in front of his eyes. His eyes matched the stripe in his hair and held a calm and collected look. He wore an elaborate dark green robe-looking overcoat with golden stripes and ties for decoration. He also wore a black undershirt, judging from the long black sleeves extending out from the boy's overcoat. Finally, he wore a pair of dull white pants.

"Nora, you can't just abduct people in the middle of their training," Ren lectured in a near monotone while pouring syrup on his pancakes.

Nora huffed indignantly. "I didn't abduct the kid, I just invited him to join us for breakfast."

"You did drag me here," I offered. "Also 'the kid' has a name. It's Garnet, remember?" Nora offered an apologetic smile.

"Sorry about that. Sometimes my excitement just makes my body act on its own." Ren snorted but was silenced by a glare from his orange haired friend. A grin spread across my face watching the two interact. They're just like the stories I've heard about mom and dad. "What's so funny?" Nora demanded, noticing my amused expression.

"Nothing," I chuckled. "You guys just remind me of stories I've heard about my parents." Ren and Nora looked away from each other in embarrassment. "Anyway, do you guys have any idea what we have to do for today's test?"

Ren just shrugged in response to my question. Man of few words. I guess that's what Nora meant when she said I was worse than him. "Not sure, but I don't think it'll be too hard. Besides, based on what Nora told me about what you were doing this morning, you're probably more than ready." I felt my face go slightly red at Ren's compliment.

"Definitely," Nora piped up. "But what was that weird rose petal thing you used? I assume it's your semblance, but what's it do?"

"Yup, that was my semblance." I summoned a small cloud of black rose petals in my hand. "My semblance lets me create these rose petals on command. Since they have a physical form, I can use them to make small defensive walls, strengthen my attacks, grab far away objects, and a whole bunch of other things." I used my petals to steal one of Nora's pieces of bacon before dispelling them. I stood up from the table. "It was nice meeting you guys. Maybe we can hang out again some time?" I asked hopefully.

Nora smiled widely and punched me in the shoulder. Damn, she's strong, I thought as I rubbed my now incredibly sore arm. "You think I'd just abandon a new friend? We'll hang out right after we kick the crap outta Ozpin's test."

"Thanks, Nora. You really have a way with words." I joked as Ren nodded in agreement. "Well I'm going to go get ready. See you later." I started toward the locker room where I had stored my stuff before coming to breakfast. On my way I ran into Zora and Brendan.

We enjoyed a short moment of silence until we reached the locker room and were grabbing our gear. That and Zora finally couldn't take the silence any more.

"Will someone just say something already!" She cried in frustration. Brendan and I raised one eyebrow each and responded in unison.

"You just did."

Zora clutched the middle of her nose with two fingers, sighing at her two obnoxious friends, us. "How did I manage to put up with you guys for this long?" Brendan bopped Zora on the head affectionately.

"You know you'd be sad if we were gone," Brendan teased as he grabbed Winlen and Eld, his machete and pistol combo. He cocked the pistol with a look of pure excitement. I sighed.

"Hey big bro? Try not to break anything important again. You know, like the time you destroyed half of Signal when we were invited to visit."

Brendan just shrugged. "No promises. Anyway, people are starting to head out, so let's get a move on it."

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><p>I, along with all the other first year students, stood atop small ceramic platforms overlooking the forest beneath the cliff where I had been training earlier. ProfessorOzpin stood in front of us with Goodwitch at this side. Ozpin cleared his throat to get our attention.<p>

"The task I have assigned all of you is very simple," Ozpin began. "You will enter the EmeraldForest below, collect an artifact from the forest shrine, and return to this cliff. The EmeraldForest is inhabited by Grimm. As such, you will have to fight with the intent to kill, otherwise you will die." Simple enough. Go to the forest, grab an artifact, and make it back in time for dinner.

Ozpin continued. "There have been many rumors about teams. Allow me to put those to rest. You will be assigned teams today. You will spend the rest of your four years at Beacon with this team." Ruby, who was standing on the platform next to mine, whimpered ever so slightly at the mention of teams. I elbowed her gently and gave her a supportive thumbs up.

"The first person you make eye contact with upon entering the forest will be your partner. Now prepare your landing strategy."

What the hell is a landing strategy? Just then the platform furthest to the left flung the student standing atop it into the air toward the forest. Oh that makes more sense now.

I got into a low crouch as I prepared for take off. I felt the platform beneath me stiff and then I was flying through the air, enjoying the feeling of the wind rushing by. A song randomly made it's way into my head, so I began to sing.

"I'm always screaming my lungs out till my head starts' spinnin. Playing my songs is the way I cope with life," I sang at the top of my lungs, trying to emulate the semi-angry sound of A Day To Remember.

"That's a happy song," Ruby noted sarcastically as she fell next to me. I shrugged, but noticed that Ruby was about to hit something.

"Bird," I warned. Unfortunately for the bird, Ruby had no idea what I was talking about. She slammed into the bird, turning it into a bird pancake.

"Briddie no!" She cried. Talk about bad luck.

"Well this has been fun, but I think I'm done. Later!" I used my semblance to grab a nearby tree. I created a rope of petals and swung around said tree in a downward until I reached the forest's floor. I rolled upon contact and sprung up, breaking into a run.

"Nailed it." I started running through the forest. Find someone you know. Find someone you know! I sprinted through the forest looking for Jaune, Ruby, Brendan, or Zora. Please let me find one of them. "BRENDAN!" Unfortunately, I got no response. At least not right away.

"Look out!" I looked around, but no one was there. What the hell? Out of the corner of my eye I noticed something brown falling toward me at a frightening pace. Are those…rabbit ears? I barely managed to put up a small wall with my petals before the object landed on me with a loud "thud". When I made contact with the hard ground I felt a sharp pain in the back of my neck and the world went black.

"Please wake up. Please don't be dead," begged a small, nervous voice. I opened my eyes a crack and saw a pair of chocolate brown rabbit ears looking down at me. "Thank dust, you're ok."

"Aren't rabbits supposed to be able to land gracefully?" I asked hazily. The giant rabbit blushed and looked away, stroking her ear. My vision and mind cleared a moment later. Standing over me wasn't a rabbit, but a female faunus.

The girl was wearing a pair of black shorts with a belt that hung low on her left side, and a red sleeves shirt with red sleeve things on her arms that left her shoulders bare. On her belt were multiple small pouches and two small, diamond shaped knives. Her hair matched the color of her ears and she had light grey eyes. I just called her a rabbit didn't I? Good going idiot.

I jumped to my feet and brushed myself off. "May I try that again?" I asked the girl, referring to my pervious statement. "What I meant to say is, hi. I'm Garnet." I offered her my hand and she cautiously reached out her own.

"I'm Velvet," the girl replied meekly. "I-I guess we're partners now."

"Yeah, I guess we are." Which way to the shrine? Might as well just start walking. "We might as well get moving. Are you ready?" Velvet nodded silently. "Great. Let's go."

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><p>AN: And there you have it. Sorry that the end was pretty weak, but I really didn't want this to be any longer than it already is. Anyway, tell me how you liked the chapter. Next up is chapter 3 from RyanRoach, so look forward to that. As always, Read, Rate, and Review. Rinse and Repeat.<p>

Until next time,

-Ventusblade


	3. the true beginning

Chapter 3: Title Pending

As soon as Ozpin mentioned landing strategies and I saw a kid jet into the air. I went from "bring it on" to "Oh shit" in about a thirty second time frame. I watched as Zora got launched to my left and felt the plate stiffen under my feet suddenly springing forward, launching me into the air.

I pulled out my machete and pistol as I flew through the air used them as a booster and steering wheel in a way. I fired off shots with the pistol hoping to gain some momentum while using the machete as a balance. In front of me was a very old mahogany tree that I used to slow down my descent.

I stabbed my machete into the bark of the tree and started to slide down the side. When my feet hit ground I took a look at my surroundings. All around 100 feet of trees blocked out most of the sunlight creating an eerie setting. I used my semblance and sensed the area around myself for around a mile. I felt a couple Grimm to my East and a few students just a few hundred feet away.

"Zora! Garnet!" I yelled, searching for anyone I knew; I received no responses and sighed. "Well, looks like I'm walking." I started to walk in the direction I thought the forest temple was and just relaxed. I put my hands behind my head and called out to Zora or Brendan occasionally. _Well, might as well figure out what Ozpin might put at the temple. With his personality and the read my semblance got off of him it's probably a game piece of some sort._

Just as I finished with that thought something tackled me from above. Instinctively I pulled out Winlen and threw a girl into the nearest tree holding the sharp blade up to her throat.

"I thought you said to chill" Zora joked pointing out that her spear head was an inch away from my stomach. "Call it a draw?"

"Deal." I let her down from the tree I pinned her to and smiled. "So I guess you're stuck with me for another 4 years!" She put her two fingers to her nose and shook her head. "Well that's not nice." I mimicked her and she just walked away.

"You and Garnet are so childish sometimes." We left it at that because as we walked into a clearing, and instantly were surrounded by two Ursa. I pulled out Eld and prepared for a fight. Zora and I stood back to back in a clearing about twenty feet around. The first bear charged at me but I was ready. I fired a single shot into its eye then front flipped over it, drawing Winlen at the same moment and making a gash in the large Grimm's back . It turned in an instant and swiped, hitting me in the chest, sending me flying into a tree a couple feet away.

"Hey Zora, are we targeting one or taking one Ursa apiece?" I landed and jumped up into a tree with branches higher than the Grimm could reach, whipping Winlen in my hand so the blade faced down.

"These Ursa are tougher than usual, you think the school sicked them on us? Either way it's just a test, take your pick on one and kill it." She was already blocking hits from one the bears with her spear so I figured I'd go for the other one. _You poor cub ._ I jumped out of the tree higher into the air and prepared to stab the Ursa in the head. I was falling so fast my blade was almost molten with heat, but my aura had encased me so I couldn't feel a thing.

My blade tore right through the thick armor and stabbed the large creature through without even dulling. When I pulled the blade out of the Grimm's head it was covered in thick black blood and I wiped it off as I watched Zora attack her Ursa.

"Try going for the stomach. There's no armor underneath" I called out helpfully,. She just glared at me and slashed the Ursa across the face using her range as I major advantage. The spear made a clear connection as she ducked a swipe the Ursa took with its giant claws and she rolled close into it. She grinned and sunk the spear head into whatever thing that kept them alive. They didn't have a heart so I usually called them black holes where their heart should be.

"I don't need your help you know." She said looking angry.

"What did I do this time? Don't give me the silent treatment Zora. You know you love me!" I threw her over my shoulder as a joke and started to walk.

"Put me down Brendan! This isn't funny!" she laughed and lightly pounded my back. I just looked over my shoulder at her and smiled. I carried her like that for five minutes when my arm started to get tired and I put her down. "How close to the temple are we?"

"I lost all sense of direction one we got in that fight." I shrugged and examined Eld, my pistol, it had a few dark marks on it from the Grimm's blood splattering on it but other than that it was in good condition.

"Can't you just use your semblance?" Zora said fixing her hair. She had a silver hair clip in it to hold her hair out of her eyes. I smiled and she gave me a weird look. "What?"

"Nothing, it's just been a while since I actually was alone with you." I turned back to the forest in front of me and activated my semblance, hoping I could pinpoint the temple. I could feel a bunch of energy coming from close by to the North. It was probably the energy of the other kids grouping together. _Well that's going to the attention of some big Grimm._ "We're close, we can get there in a few minutes if we sprint it."

"Let's get going then!" Zora smiled and took off in front of me.

After sprinting for 5 minutes we finally arrived. The entire area was like a bowl with cliffs going down steeply into a field like area. Garnet was standing to a Rabbit Faunus girl who was holding a chess piece. I noticed he got paired with a girl and gave him thumbs up. He smiled and went back to talking with her and that girl Ruby. We walked up onto a platform and sure enough bunches of chess piece were sitting on podiums. I picked up a white queen and tossed it to Zora. She nodded and I walked over to that blonde girl from last night.

"So we meet again. Miss me?" I put my arm around her and stood next to her like a complete arrogant bastard. She had been talking to her partner and she already had her arms crossed so I knew It would be hard to hit me in the face. I was practically leaning on her and her eyes looked murderous when she turned to me.

"Not really, trust me when I say you are **not** getting with this." She shoved me off and glared at me.

"Oh come on! I don't want to 'get' with that. I was just thinking that my extreme handsomeness was enough to at least get a flirt." I smiled, but my smile vanished when I heard a scream from above and saw a blond guy trying to catch some girl in mid-air, he caught her but they both fell straight down with the girl landing right on top of his back. Then I saw the Grimm. A Death Stalker had just bust out of the woods, chasing a girl with bright red hair and wearing Amazon-like armor. Circling above us was a Nevermore, it was looking around almost in a hungry way trying to determine who to eat first. _Called it,_ I took a better look around to see where we'd be fighting and it wasn't good. First off the ruins around us could fall down at any moment.

Most of the other first years drew out ranged weapons, which would mean friendly fire on accident or not at some point. I looked over at Zora and knew she was thinking the same thing.

"There's no point in staying here. Our mission is to get an artifact and get back to the cliff. We don't have to fight these things." Ruby said taking charge. Her voice had changed into a completely different tone from what it had been before, much more mature.

"She's right; we need to get going if we want to avoid a fight." A white haired girl said. Ruby nodded to her and we all took off towards the cliff. I looked back when I was halfway up the hill and saw that Yang and some girl dressed in black had stayed there.

"Come on beautiful! I don't want that pretty face getting hurt!" I yelled as I sprinted up next to Garnet. "You know we're gonna have to fight don't you?"

"Yep, just hope we can take those things down." He pulled out his katanas and jumped on top of the ruins getting a better view. I followed his lead and took the other side. Right as we were about to make it out of the valley the Nevermore blocked our path to the cliff.

"Nora distract it!" a black haired guy called somewhere to my left. _Why just her?_ When I saw that this girl had a grenade launcher I instantly thought. _That…is…so…AWESOME!_ We ran into a ravine that had a large stone bridge connecting different towers that rose up from the Foggy Bottom. We had just made it to the center of the bridge when the Nevermore came in for an attack and separated out the group. I was on one side with Zora and like 4 other kids including Nora and the blond guy while Garnet and his partner had gotten stuck on the other side.

Well, as usual, I took a lucky draw and had to fight the Death Stalker. The black haired guy pulled out some sweet mini pistols and started to go to town on it while another girl slipped out a rifle and followed his lead. I pulled out Eld and was nailing every shot making several chinks in its armor. The girl with the grenade launcher had turned it into a war hammer and nailed the Grimm right in the head! The blond guy, I really need to learn their names, charged the Night Stalker with the classic sword and shield combo. We managed to shove the Grimm back a few feet giving us room to fight. Zora was with sword guy and was slashing at its eyes when I saw the guy with the machine-pistol things jump onto its tail and start to shoot at the connecting point of the stinger and tail.

He had done a lot of work when the Grimm started to shake its tail around sending him flying into the nearest column.

"REN!" Nora yelled letting her smile fade for the first time.. _Well that's his name._

"Zora we need to go for its tail!" I yelled to her. She nodded and threw her spear with deadly accuracy slicing the stinger completely off and slightly embedding it into the things head.

"Nora now!" said the blond guy. She nodded and used the other girl's shield as a booster to launch herself into the air. She fired a grenade and used the momentum to get higher than shot another one bringing her down even faster then slammed the stinger through the Night Stalker's head. _We're done, how's Garnet doing? Hope he hasn't gotten himself beaten-up again._

The others had been isolated on the tower and looked like they had a plan. When I looked over Ruby and Garnet were loaded into a makeshift sling shot. The white haired girl had some weird symbol by their feet and when she turned it red they shot into the air so fast I almost couldn't see them. Both of them caught the neck of the Nevermore that had been frozen to the ground earlier. The symbols showed up on the cliff face and together Garnet and Ruby ran up the cliff dragging the Nevermore with them. Ruby holding onto its neck and Garnet catching it by jaw.

When they reached the top they both used shots from their weapons and tore the head completely off of the Grimm. As the body started to fall into the chasm below the cliff I saw red and black rose petals flying off of their bodies, scattering to the wind and leaving the rest of us speechless.

"That's my brother." I said to myself staring up at him with pride. "YA! GO GARNET!" I saw him blush slightly and then he and Ruby jumped down to their group. "THAT'S MY BROTHER!"

_Later that day_

We walked back to the cliff without running into any other Grimm, thank goodness. Just as I had planned it, when the first few kids walked through the main door BAM! Confetti cannons blasted above them and air horns blasted in their ears and after all that 20 gallons of water rained down. I just couldn't help but laughing! If you had seen their faces! Oh it was perfect! I was rolling on the ground and couldn't breathe I was laughing so hard!

"Now I see why you didn't want me using the main doors." Garnet laughed and fell down right beside me. "Oh man, that was too good! Where did you get that much water?"

"I just pulled a hose over from the cafeteria! I never thought that I would nail like 4 kids with it!" right as I finished I saw who one of those kids was, Zora. _OH CRAP!_ She looked _seriously_ pissed. "Hey Zora! I didn't know you were going to the pool today!"

"You little!" she ran after me as I ditched outside and started to duck around corners. "Brendan! Get back here!" She started to gain on me and I had one last moment to think _note to self, don't prank Zora,_ before my head hit pavement. I tried to get up but she slammed a foot on my chest and held me down. "Now, who are you not going to prank again?"

"Zora, you're crushing me." I choked out as she applied more pressure. She pulled up her foot and gave me a boost off of the ground. "Thanks, we should catch up with the others." I put my arm around her and pretended to be drunk as we made our way to the Auditorium. We showed up just a few minutes behind all the other students and Garnet was sitting next to Ruby pulling out some of the moves I taught him.

The entire place was around 300 feet with rows of seats getting higher from the center outwards. The seats each had a table in front of them so it was obviously a glorified classroom. The tables were a sturdy oak as were the chairs but they had absolutely no cushion to them. I took a seat on the end with Zora next to me still dripping water all over. I saw Ozpin standing in the middle of the small platform in the middle of the room. He called out 4 names.

"Weiss Schnee, Yang Xiao Long, Blake Belladonna, and Ruby Rose." They each stood in front of Ozpin as straight as they could possibly. "You each collected the white knight pieces. From now on you will be known as team RWBY. Your team's leader will be Ruby Rose." I saw Ruby's jaw drop and Yang gave her a giant look and smiled. They walked off the platform with Weiss looking cheated. _She seems to be very angry for someone who wears white._

"Who do you think will lead our group?" Zora asked leaning over at me. I just shrugged at her and turned back to Ozpin trying to see who was up next.

"Jaune Arc, Pyrrha Nikos, Lie Ren, Nora Valkyrie." They took the same pose except for Nora who was still bouncing on her heels and smiling. "You each collected the White Rook pieces. From now on you will be known as team JNPR. Your team leader will be Jaune Arc." He smiled slightly and took a sip of his coffee. As Jaune's jaw dropped even lower than Ruby's had they made their way back to a row of seats.

"We're up next Brendan; let's see who we get paired up with! Hopefully it isn't that guy over there in the knight armor. He seems like a huge jerk." We sat there waiting for Ozpin to look at his paper; he frowned a little bit when he saw the names.

"Garnet Rose, Velvet Scarlatina, Brendan Grimm, Zora Ignacio." We walked over to Ozpin and stood in front of all the other kids. Garnet stood next to me slightly blushing under the lights. "From now on you will be known as team BRVZ. Your team leader will be…" _Not me, that's for sure._ "Brendan Grimm." _Crazy Professor says what now?_ Garnet punched me in the shoulder and smiled up at me. We all sat down next to each other in some empty seats and I was in complete shock.

"Brendan? Hey bro, focus up man!" Garnet waved his hand in my face and when I looked over at him and he smiled at me. "So how's it feel to be a team leader?" I got myself put back into one piece and just started laughing and looking up at the ceiling high above me. "We should get out of here to find our dorm."

"No objections to that. I could use a chance to change." Zora said flinging water on me. I was still laughing like a maniac. "I think he needs to calm down." We all got up with me leading the way back to the dorm we had been assigned as we walked out of the auditorium. We were over in the Eastern wing of the school and even as we walked into the room I was still giggling like a little kid.

"Okay it's official, he's gone in insane! Snap out of it!" Garnet said slapping me as hard as he could. I stopped laughing and looked at him. I guess I looked pretty angry because he backed up a few feet. I shook my head and looked at everyone.

"All good now. So I have one question right off the bat. How are we going to change everyday without one of you two girls starting at the studliness that is us brothers?" Velvet meeped quietly at my remark at blushed. _Shy girl huh?_

"You are so full of yourself Brendan." Zora said pulling out some clothes and walking into the bathroom. When she walked out she was wearing Pj's and flopped face down on the bed closest to her. I took the one in between her and Garnet.

"So anyway I'm Brendan, nice to meet you Velvet!" I smiled holding out my hand. She shook it and smiled back slightly. Our room was basically a Hotel room that could fit 4 beds and a couple dressers, tucked into the corner was the bathroom door. The carpet was a dark red and the walls were stark white. On the wall farthest from the door were our beds and a **massive** window. My bed was a full with a comforter that matched the carpet and a frame made out of some kind of thick Balsa wood.

I closed the blood red curtains and slipped into the bathroom to put on my pajamas while the others were talking about what happened to them in forever fall. I took off my shirt and saw a few new scars. At some point the Night Stalker had slashed my chest leaving a long but not too deep cut. My arms had a few nicks on them from chipping off the thick white armor and I could feel a slash on my leg from where that Ursa had gotten me. I bandaged up my cuts and slipped on a loose white shirt and some blue plaid pants.

When I walked out everyone was joking about how Velvet had fallen on Garnet when she flew off of her launch pad. I smiled and sat down next to Zora joining in on the conversation. We talked about old stories for hours on end, some of the funniest were the ones Velvet told though, and apparently butter is recession proof. Velvet fell asleep first followed in hot pursuit by Garnet. I sat on Zora's bed and as she got tired put her head on my shoulder.

"These next few years are going to be so crazy." She yawned. "I'll see you in the morning Brendan." She pushed my lightly off her bed and crawled under the covers.

"Good night Zora." I slipped under the heavy blanket and fell asleep almost instantly.

_The next day_

I woke up to the sound of Garnet's alarm clock. It was the Spanish station playing at max volume; I don't know why he listened to that station because he doesn't understand a single word. _What should I do today? Maybe set Garnet up for a little alone time with Ruby? Yup, that's it!_ I slipped on some jeans and a tight black shirt. I tied the band for my machete sheath in my belt loops and on the other side I slipped the pistol holster on. Over that I put on my jacket and started to brush my teeth.

Everyone else slugged around where as I was bouncing off the walls. I had a crazy dream that I was at my grandparent's house talking to Pocahontas' dad about the president while a purple garden gnome sat between us. After that I went outside and met up with some red head girl, she told me something but I couldn't remember it. _Weird night._ I watched as the others finished getting ready.

"You guys do know that class starts in 10 minutes right?" I asked. Garnet turned to me eyes wide and used his semblance to dash around almost faster than I could follow, Zora pulled out a brush and went to town on her hair while Velvet frantically jumped onto her bead avoiding a head on collision with Garnet. "That's it, big brother mode." I grabbed all three of them by their arms and burst out the door and full speed flinging the others in front of me getting them to the end of the hall where they followed my lead and ran down the stairs.

I ran back into our room and opened a window jumping out of it. I dropped a few stories and came down lightly on my toes then sprinted over to Professor Port's class. I actually ended up ahead of everyone which really confused them. We all sprinted at top speed with teams RWBY and JNPR just coming through the doors. Velvet was struggling to keep up with the rest of us and started to fall behind when Garnet grabbed her wrist and made a reference I will never forget.

"I got you babe" Oh my gosh it was so perfect! He even winked to add effect and everything! Velv might've even blushed for a second or two. Eventually we did end up getting to class but only after a series of Weiss trying to blast me with her rapier for sticking my tongue out at her.

**Sorry Vennie old pal but I'm handing it off to you here because I suck at writing classroom scenes! And to all you amazing and wonderful people who follow this story and big thank you and please leave a review about what you thought and/or a battle cry I can use at the end of future chapters.**


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